The Truth about Making Out

In Lantz's fluffy plot, backyard camp-outs and botched makeup experiments are described with assurance and affection. Now that Amanda and Leigh are entering middle school, they have decided that they must put away their childish games and concentrate on becoming sophisticated teenagers. The only problem is that they're not sure how to begin. What's more, despite all the music videos and daytime TV they have seen, neither girl knows for certain what ``making out'' is all about. In order to learn the meaning of this and other key teenage concepts, the girls start to spy on their older sisters. When their information-gathering sorties end in slapstick disaster, the best friends become victims of their sisters' elaborate revenge. Despite bland characterizations and a rather pat ending, these goofy, briskly written misadventures will certainly entertain an audience of like-minded sixth-grade girls. Ages 9-13. (July)